Hanger bar



SePt- 15, 1959 J. L. GlDwlTz ETAL 2,904,190

HANGER BAR Filed Decj 29, 1954 Unite Stres Patent 2,904,190 HANGER BAR Joseph L. Gidwitz and Francis Weslfall, Chicago, Ill., as-

signors to Lanzit Corrugated Box Company, Chicago, lll;,' a corporation of Illinois Application December 29, 1954, Serial No. 478,383

1 Claim. (Cl. 211-123) The invention relat'es to improvements in shipping containers and more specifically to the novel construction of a hanger mounted therein to reinforce said container and t'o support garments from garment hangers suspended thereon.

There are presently in use shipping containers having a hanger bar bridgiug two opposed container side walls at their upper ends to afford suspension means for garment hangers upon which are placed garments. Such a prior use is shown in the pending application of Joseph Gidwitz, Serial No. 365,666, filed July 2, 1953. Use of the type of hanger bar disclosed in said application has not proven entirely satisfactory because when the shipping containers is .tilted sidewise, all of the garment hangers slide to one end of the hanger bar. When that occurs the garments become crushed and wrinkled thus defeating one of the purposes of said hanger bar. It also happens that, on occasion, the hook element of a garment hanger becomes disengaged from the hanger bar and the garment suspended therefrom falls to the container bottom.

The present novel structure overcomes the objectionable characteristics of the otherwise very useful hanger bar and it is one of the objects of this invention to'provide means on the hanger bar to frictionally coact With the free terminal portions of the garment hanger hooks to prevent displacement of the garment hanger and also to provide means to limit the amount of shifting of the garment hangers which may occur when the container is tilted. i f

'Another object is to provide a hanger rod with novel garment hanger retaining means which functions also to stifien the hanger bar.

Another object is to provide a shipping container with a hanger bar embodying the novel characteristics defined hereinabove. I

\ other object of the invention is to provide a novelly constructed hanger bar which is of rugged construction, very eflicient in use and easy to install in a container.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which Will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size and minor details of the structure may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

For the purpose of facilitating an understanding of our invention, we have illustrated in the accompanying drawings a preferred embo'diment thereof, from an inspection of which, when considered in connection With the following description, our invention, its mode of construction, assembly and operation, and many of its advantages, should be readily understood and appreciated.

Referring to the 'drawings in which the same characters of reference are employed to indicate corresponding or ing means provided within the container.

similar parts throughout the several fi'gures of Ithe drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of the upper open end of a shipping container showing the hangef embodying the features of the present invention mounted thereon.

Fig. 2 is a plan view ofthe hanger.

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the hanger. V

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view, taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Referring now to the disclosure in the accompanying drawings, the container 11, selected for purposes of illustration, is of considerable length and its ends may be closed in any suitable manner such as by including, as integral parts of the container side walls, foldable flaps adapted to be folded into end closing positions in a mannerxwel-l understood in this art. The container 11 is particularly adapted to accommodate garments in such manner that said garments may be transported without Adanger of becoming wrinkled through displacement of the hangers or disengagement of the hangers from support- The supporting means provided for the suspension of a plurality of garment hangers includes a metal hanger bar 12 which extends transversely of the container between opposed |side walls 13 thereof. The hanger preferably is located substantially midway between the connecting walls 14 which it parallels.

In order to facilitate ready removal and placement of the hanger bar 12 so as to permit the container 11 to be collapsed or set up for use easily, said hanger bar is provided With means on its ends to have detachable engagement with the opposed supporting walls 13. Such means preferably consists of elongated inverted substantially U-shaped metal brackets 15. Each of these brackets includes depending plate portions 16 and 17 joined at their upper end and the plate portions 16 are firmly secured, as at 18, to the related end of the hanger bar `12, preferablyv by Welding. When the hanger bar 12 is mounted upon the container 13 in the manner illustrated, the U-shaped metal brackets 15 are engaged over the top margins of the opposed container walls 13. It should be quite obvious that this construction and method of mounting permits ready insertion and removalV of the hanger bar and, when the hanger bar is in place, it functions not only as a supportV for a plurality of garment hangers but also as a strut to reinforce the container.

As has been stated hereinabove, the provision of a hanger bar 12 without any means to prevent shifting longitudinally thereof of the garment hangers suspended thereon frequently results in said hangers sliding toward one or the other end of said hanger bar With the result that the garments suspended thereby are crushed and wrinkled. It might be observed also that the garment hangers (one of which is illustrated at 19) are fabricated from soft wire stock and each is provided with a hook lportion 21 including a terminal portion 22 (Fig. 4) that is engaged over the top of the hanger bar 12. Because these hangers are fabricated from soft wire stock, it very often happens that when a heavy garment is carried thereon, the hook portion 21 bends sufliciently to cause the terminal portion 22 to tflex outwardly a distance sufficient to allow the hook portion 21 to slide off of the hanger bar with the result that the garment suspended therefrom falls to the bottom of the container and becomes wrinkled and unsightly. Also, during handling of the container, such as when it is dropped, the garment hangers may become disengaged from the hanger bar.

The hanger bar 12, disclosed in this application, is particularly designed and constructed to avoid occurrence of the aforementioned objectionable characteristics of a plain hanger bar. Accordingly, there is provided on the outside face of one of the depending side walls of the hanger bar 12, a strap 23 fabricated from relatively heavy stock. This` strap is substantiallty coextensive with the length of the hanger bar 12 and it is formed at longitudinally spaced intervals and at its ends with planular offsets 24. These offsets are placed in direct contact with one side wall of the hanger bar 12 and are firmly secured thereto as by spot-Welding 25. Obviously, other means than Welding may be utilized for securing the strap 23 to the hanger, such as, for example, bolts or ri-vets and, further, it may not always be necessary to spot- Weld each of the planular oifsets 24, should spot-Welding of alternate offset areas be sufficient to prevent displacement of the strap 23 relative to the hanger bar 12.

The provision of the planular offset areas 24 in the strap 23 provides a plurality of elongated openings 26, each opening extending between the planular offsets 24. As illustrated, the strap 23 is located closely adjacent to the top plane of the hanger bar 12, as is best illustrated in Fig. 4, and its lower edge is substantially straight so as to define a sharp edge 27 on the inwardly disposed lower corner thereof. When a hook 21 of a garment hanger 19 is arranged over the hanger bar 12, the normally angularly inclined terminal portion 22 thereof extends downwardly through the related elongated opening 26 and said terminal portion is tensioned, due to the weight of the garment hanger, in tight frictional engagement with the lower inside edge of the strap 23. The presence of the elongated openings 26 permits the simultaneous hanging of a number of garment hangers on the hanger bar. Should the container 13 be tilted in direction longitudinally of the hanger bar 12, the garment hangers embraced Within each of the openings 26 Will be restrained from sliding beyond the adjacent planular offset 24. Such sliding is greatly minimized due to the tight frictional engagement between the terminal portion 22 of the garment hanger hook and the strap and this frictional engagement is further increased by the presence of the sharp corner 27 on the lower end of the strap 23. This corner tends to bite into the terminal portion 22 of the hook to further restrain any tendency of the garment hanger to slide longitudinally along the hanger bar 12 and it serves also to prevent the hook portion 21 from freeing itself from the hanger bar should the container be dropped or otherwise be handled roughly. It should, therefore, be quite obvious that the garment hangers 19 are retained on the hanger bar 12 within an area defined by the length of the opening 26 and, further, that any tendency of any such garment hangers to shift longitudinally of said openings or to disengage itself from the hanger bar is restrained by the frictional binding between the hook terminal portion 22 and the strap 23.

It is believed that our invention, its mode of construction and assembly, and many of its advantages, should be readily understood from the foregoing without further description, and it should also be manifest that while a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described for illustrative purposes, the structural details are nevertheless capable of wide variation within the purview of our invention as defined in the appended claim.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A hanger bar structure for supporting a plurality of garment hangers of the type having a thin flexible curved hook including a terminal portion thereof, said structure comprising an elongated horizontally extending member having an upper surface for supportably engaging beneath the upper portions of said hooks, an integral longitudinal retaining strip extending parallel to said member and spaced horizontally therefrom, said strip having portions thereof offset horizontally inwardly therefrom at spaced intervals therealong, said offset portions contacting said member below said upper surface of the latter, means for fixedly securing said offset portions to said member, the portions of said strip between said offset portions extending substantially rectilinearly and parallel to said member and in spaced relation thereto, the interval between each adjacent pair of offset portions being of a length to receive between each said pair the terminal portions of a group of hangers supported on said member, said rectilinear strip portions each having an approximately horizontal lower surface extending below said member upper surface and an approximately vertical inner surface facing said member and spaced outwardly therefrom and extending parallel thereto, said `lower surfaces and said inner surfaces intersecting to define between said offset portions a plurality of aligncd sharp edges for frictionally biting into the upper surfaces of the terminal portions of hanger hooks supported on said member to hold the hangers against sliding movement longitudinally of the member and to prevent the curved hooks from fiexing toward a straightened expanded position under the strain of the weight of garments supported on the hangers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 724,427 Bonsall Apr. 7, 1903 1,235,476 Hoff July 31, 1917 1,471,127 Henke Oct. 16, 1923 1,630,338 Gail May 31, 1927 2,020,991 Brody Nov. 12, 1935 2,263,166' Darvie et al Nov. 18, 1941 2,357,309 Brown et al. Sept. 5, 1944 2,633,979 Warnick Apr. 7, 1953 

